Update #259 follows up on the major new addition of the Shock Trooper job -- a frontline warrior with the sustaining power to hold slot 1 or 2 without a blade -- and adds new weapons, new gear, rebalances snubbers to further separate them from assault rifles, improves a merchant Talent and more! If you're new to the game, expect a lot of new updates with free, awesome content and be sure to leave a review and tell a friend.

Our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is under development. Set in a different universe than Star Traders, we think much of what you all love about STF (a lore-rich world, many ways to play, strong independent spirit, lots of RPG depth) is shared within. Learn more about the Cyber Knights setting on its Steam page, or check out this video showing a ton of art and discussing the game design.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/


With Update #259, we've taken a chance to push Snubbers into an even more unique class of weapon by transforming some of their Accuracy bonuses into Parry bonuses. While they can't compete with carrying a melee weapon (as you have no Blades Skill) this bonus makes any buff to Melee Defense more noticeable and some of the high level Snubbers are bringing pretty significant Parry stacks.

We've added 7 new ultra rare level 10 Relic Weapons as possible results of Salvage -- the Slazah Falchion, Ki-Karat Sah, Paratitan HG, Retaliation Roar, Otrike Domer, Solar Dragoon and mighty AX2 Advadnium. This will be the last weapon add to Salvage as the story rewards will stand unique at Level 11. They each have their own special twist and will be of interest to specific combat builds but worth the risk in hunting.

Contacts who sell Military and Specialist gear have gained 2 new options each with level 5 gears that are a mix of powerful offensive, defense and Attribute boosters. For those looking for a reliable pick up in ability to handle crew combat, check these out.


We've fixed the majority of reported Shock Trooper issues with Update #259, and what is left is small textual issues in certain Talent detail panels. We've resolved the issue with Deepstrike Grenade always immediately putting your Shock Trooper to penalty -- it was costing 196 Initiative!

We've also fixed the issue with some of the Shock Trooper's buffs and attacks adding to Melee Accuracy or Melee Damage -- these obviously were ranged.

For clarity, we're renamed the buffs that were Parry and Dodge to Melee Defense and Ranged Defense (thanks @jamesthesecond!) as these effect all dice in those pools, not only your weapon's Parry dice (etc).

Finally, we've improved the power and way that the dice roll out for Merchant's Talent "Garner Favor" which will help it have more impressive results.

- Added 7 new ultra rare level 10 Relic Weapons (Slazah Falchion, Ki-Karat Sah, Paratitan HG, Retaliation Roar, Otrike Domer, Solar Dragoon, AX2 Advadnium)
- Added 4 new level 5 Gear for sale (2 Mil, 2 Specialist) -- defensive, offensive, Attribute boosters
- Rebalanced all Snubbers to trade small percentage of weapon Accuracy for some weapon Parry
- Improved application of Negotiate Skill in Merchant's Talent "Garner Favor" to give more even better Rep bonuses
- Renamed buff bonus "Parry" to "Melee Defense" and "Dodge" to "Ranged Defense" for clarity
- Fixed bug with Shock Trooper Talents buffing Melee Accuracy instead of ranged
- Fixed issue with Deepstrike Grenade costing 196 Initiaive to use (auto Penalty)

Update #258 launches with all new frontline snubber-focused Shock Trooper combat job, all new Bleeding rules and Pinning resistance that shake up crew combat meta, powerful new boarding Talent, new recruit options for Princes and Merchants and more. Step on to the bridge captain, the void waits for no ship. To celebrate this major update and new Job, we're kicking off a weeklong 40% sale. Send shrapnel, shells and spice!



Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2021 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107


For too long, the bladesman has held sway over the front ranks of battle. At last, a complementary Job has arrived to prop up Soldier's frontline Talents and shake up the close-quarters combat on ship, salvage yard and open field. The Shock Trooper is a deadly close-quarters combat specialist, trained in the martial arts of deadly face-to-face firefights. These battle-hardened warriors charge forward, and can be found in the front lines of conflicts across the galaxy.

The Shock Trooper unleashes 15 new Talents focused on joining the battle in the front 2 slots of crew combat and bringing enough sustaining power to survive it. Their unique buffing attack "Bracing Fire" allows them to resist being Pinned and resist all forced movement (your own team can still move you) -- helping them stay right where they want to be, in the enemies face. A Shock Trooper's firepower is legendary, and "Retaliation" creates the first and only ranged-fire counterattack Talent, allowing them to blast back if attacked from the enemy front 2. Like Swordsman, the Shock Trooper will return fire with a different Talent if available -- where Swordsman uses Balanced Blade, Shock Trooper will counter with Bracing Fire. The Shock Trooper's "Deepstrike Grenade" also pairs with the Soldier's "Concussion Grenade" to allow targeting the enemy's front or back ranks with a stunning grenade (both Talents now have 14 Initiative cost). In many ways, the Shock Trooper synergizes with the Soldier's Talent list

Their non-crew combat Talents include a Command Save, a ship combat +Boarding Buff and a powerful "finish them" style Boarding Talent. "Hota-Cored Shells" destroy up to 3 components with at least 40% but less than 60% (damaged but not yet out) guaranteeing that they are at least 60% damage or higher. If properly timed and planned, this Talent has the potential to land a knock out punch to an enemy ship, in the absolute best scenarios on the first boarding hit!

Some exciting new meta has dripped and splattered into the Bleeding rules for crew combat. Bleeding has taken a new pace and now Bleeding Damage is rolled every time a character gets a chance to act. Naturally, we've rebalanced all of the Bleeding and Bleed Res damages but this does mean that heavier, chunkier use of Initiative will cost (Snipers) you less Hit Points to Bleeding. When thinking about who to slice up and Bleed, those characters who are high Initiative and use low Initiative attacks (Pistoleers) are your most effective targets. The new rules helps Bio-Poison stand on its own as the damage-over-time that runs once a turn where Bleeding runs every action (even if you are Stunned or Morale Break).

And the Shock Trooper brings some exciting new capabilities in this area! To battle!


With Update #258, we've pushed more recruit options into some of the most commonly available Contacts -- Princes and Merchants. Princes -- with their connection to their own military elite -- offer to recruit Shock Troopers and Merchants -- with their far-flung network of trade -- offer to recruit Hyperwarp Navigators.


To ensure you spot the change, we've added a new highlight for whenever a Contact adds a story Mission to your offered list. At the end of the conversation, a highlight will play over the Mission option, reminding you that while the Contact told you about the Mission in story dialog, you do need to check it out, review its specifics and make an informed decision as to whether or not you'll accept.



We've also fixed a few bugs with Mission Offered count getting behind and showing too few or too many missions until you opened the subscreen, especially in the case of Missions expiring.

- New Bleeding rules -- Bleeding damage is applied every time you act, all Bleeding and Bleed Res rebalanced
- New Job "Shock Trooper" leads with a snubber and a rack of grenades from the frontline with Rifles, Evasion, Command Skills
- Shock Troopers recruited from Cadar spice hall or Contacts will have best Attributes
- 15 new Talents for Shock troopers including multiple unique Talent types, uses and combat combos
- Shock Trooper "Braced Fire" resists forced movement and Pinning
- Shock Trooper "Retaliation" allows for ranged fire counterattacks
- Shock Trooper "Hota-Cored Shells" boarding victory Talent knocks out already damaged components
- Contact types Prince and Retired Bodyguard (new) offer Shock Troopers as recruits
- Merchant Contacts now offer Hyperwarp Navigator recruits always
- During Mercenaries Rumors, Shock Troopers and Bodyguards can be recruited in the Spice Hall
- New Contact Trait "Military Leverage" increases costs, always willing to buy Intel, recruits Shock Troopers
- Initiative on Soldier's Concussion Grenade Talent reduced to 14
- New mission highlighter shown in Contact screen if the mission count changes (due to story, etc)
- Fixed bug where crew combatants could end up smaller if they had custom outfit (legs/upper/gloves)
- Fixed all issues with incorrect number of pending missions listed when talking to contact
- Corrected Talent icon for Wing Bomber "Ruthless Destruction" to be red

Update #257 rolls out with a set of revamps to how Legendary Bounty Hunter stories are pulled into the game, adds new Contact simulation actions and fixes some outstanding issues with Conflict selection when generating Intel that were blocking the upcoming Conflict Missions. We've also continued to work on the platform updates and revisions for Mac and Linux that kicked off in Update #256.

If you like the pace of new updates, please consider leaving a review and telling a friend!

Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2021 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107


The four legendary bounty hunters -- Troy 'The Blade' Circin, April 'The Werewolf' Flowder, Draiv Solregard and Urraca Aurelius -- have long haunted the nightmares of captains and at times, come for them from the dark of the void, carrying a death warrant and a blade. Sometimes a assault rifle. Sometimes a torp. Whatever. If one of your enemies pays them well enough, they will come for your life. But, we often receive the feedback that a veteran player believes they have created the conditions that should cause one of the infamous hunters to appear but they do not. With this update, we've completely rewritten how the Bounty Hunters are deployed by Contacts to make it far less questionable whether or not they are going to appear. They are proc'd much more readily now, more like the vignettes.

If you make a powerful enemy, they will not hesitate to pay these hunters to do what they do best.

We've improved the matrix of actions that a Contact Trait can cause for a Contact again with this release, working to link more Rumors to more Traits. As an example, this release we've added the link that those Contacts who are Spice Addicted are more likely to take action that will start Spice Festivals on their zones. As more and more Rumors and Traits get added, we're always working to improve this motivation matrix.


As we march toward Conflict Missions, we're continuing to grind down on any little rough edges, balance imperfections and bugs around Conflicts. With this update, we've fixed an issue related to how Conflicts were selected for those that would be targeted by Orbital Ops and any Talent that generated Conflict-related intel. The selection rules specifically used to select the oldest standing Conflict. This meant when playing an Orbital Ops like Spying you could only affect one Conflict and only gain Intel related to one Conflict. For Intel gathering Missions, this is a major problem and it would have been even worse for Conflict Missions. We've resolved this in many places -- from Orbital Ops to Unauthorized Access boarding Talent -- so that the targeted Conflict is taken from a list of possible Conflicts with a slight weighting applied by age.


For a long time now, if you trained enough flight plan Talents and used the right screen resolution, you could end up with them going off the top of the screen. This was kicked up a notch by adding Saboteur and players combining Saboteur and Wing Commando. We're now resolved this with a refresh to the interface that shows the Talent Icons in a neat little grid (less mouse movement, yah!) with hovers for their full details.

- Rebalanced rules for Legendary Bounty Hunters -- they will appear far more readily now
- Contacts with Traits like Spice Addict (and others) are more likely to start Spice Festival Rumors on their own zone
- Improved balance of Contact-created Rumors to run longer and be more useful to captains
- Rebalanced Orbital Conflict selection and Intel Talents that target a Conflict to stop using "oldest" Conflict only
- Fixed issue with too many Flight Plans going off screen
- Fixed issue with selling generic Intel to Contact raising wrong Conflict Score

Update #256 is an unexpected detour into an important system within the game. With a very timely and well-put post, @davea pointed out an area where we could massively improve the experience for new and veteran players through making the game's auto-trainer for Talents smarter. We took a quick break from our progression on Conflicts toward Conflict Score missions to improve the auto-trainer for the good of every captain across the expanse.

As always, a huge thanks to everyone posting feedback and helping us share the game through reviews.

This update also includes major upgrades to our SDKs, Steam libraries and other parts of the internal system to improve support for the latest versions of Mac OS and Linux distros -- such as Big Sur.

Development on our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, proceeds apace. We’re currently working toward the private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. But you can view the latest updates on the CKF Steam page (make sure you’ve wishlisted and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/


^ Experience E in the Frontier Liner
Talent training has come up on the Steam forums in many ways over the years, with many players needing to receive the advice from the veteran captain community to train up on Skill Saving Talents. But, the credit is owed to @davea for asking just the right question to set off this chain of work and key improvements to the game that every new captain will feel.

The auto-trainer for bot the new game and the button in the crew manifest have had their priorities reworked significantly. The changes are all about acquiring up to a threshold of Skill Saving Talents before any other Talents are considered. if possible, the 3 or more are acquired in every core ship Skill and at least 1 is acquired in social skills.



This leads to dramatically better starts on every difficulty. In my last test on Normal, my captain who started in a Frontier Liner with E experience escorted the Arbiter, then took the mission to Faen court and to the Highwind wreckage and returned to Calagan Faen with only 2 traveling skill failures without having to do any manual Talent training.


^ Smuggler Template

^ Explorer Template

^ Pirate Template

^ Bounty Hunter Template

When reviewing different Jobs, you can now see the true list of primary, secondary and lower Skills. At early levels, this can sometimes be misleading, where Spy starts with +2 Stealth and +1 Electronics but eventually ends up with higher Electronics than Stealth as the Job progresses. For Jobs like Saboteur this can also be helpful as you don't see that you will train in Pilot Skill at all in the first level.

To help reinforce this priority, the Job skill bonuses are now ordered by primary, second, etc -- so Spy reads +1 Electronics, +2 Stealth, +1 Pistol in order of primary, second, tertiary skills.



Along with the work on the Auto-Trainer we also hammered out some other fixes from the Steam boards. We fixed an issue where the Templar Militant wasn't offering his unique brand of Trait Reconditioning but instead offering Chaesin's list. We also fixed some issues with ship component types disappearing during starport shopping and Talent descriptions and icons after use.

- Major improvements to new game Talent training logic to better prioritize Skill Saving Talents
- Improved crew list Auto-Train to better prioritize Skill Saving Talents
- Job Listing now includes Primary, Secondary (etc) skills in order for each job
- Specific bonuses for a job level are now ordered by this primary, secondary ordering
- Linux and Mac Big Sur platform support improvements
- Fixed issue with Templar Militant Trait Reconditioning not matching advertised list
- Fixed issue with Wing Leader and Saboteur Talent descriptions
- Fixed issue with preview of new ship Component List being empty, launch capability being incorrectly listed
- Fixed issue with "Offensive" ship component subcategory sometimes disappearing

Update #255 introduces a major new way for Merchants and other traders to get involved in Trade Ban, Trade War, and Trade Alliance Conflicts. We've also made some major QOL improvements to crew combat's log and hover, fixed two longstanding bugs with craft and hammered out some more requests coming in from the community. Thanks for all your support and if you like the pace of updates, be sure to leave a review.

Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2021 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107


Every type of Conflict has its angles for you to get involved and tip the scales in the favor of one faction or another. Blockading and merchant hunting has long been the angle for Trade Wars and Trade Bans but with Update #255 we've opened up a new attack vector -- legal trading at the Exchange! Any time you make a trade over $5,000 that violates a Trade Ban or Trade War, your action can cost you Rep but will also support the opposing faction in the Conflict and increase their Conflict score by 1-4 points. In addition, any $5,000 or higher trade in an Exchange with two factions in a Trade Alliance supports the local faction and increases their economic power within the scales of balance of that Trade Alliance. The politics of the Star Traders are petty and feudal -- someone always emerges the victor, even in Alliances.

This important set of updates invites merchants more actively to the Conflict table and prepares for the next big round of open-ended missions that will be coming to the game -- Conflict missions -- where you will be paid to adjust a Conflict Score by a certain amount by whatever means you can. Having more options will increase the variability of play in these missions, so expect some more Conflict Score angles appearing before these missions slide into your update feed.


A special thanks to @Pilda on Steam this week for a spot on suggestion for easy ways to improve the crew combat log. We jumped on the simple suggestion and have much nicer, much more readable crew combat logs coming out this week. Based on everyone's feedback, we'll make further improvements and then ship combat logs will get a similar treatment in the next update.

In a reverse operation, we're working to upgrade crew combat hovers over characters to include the level of detail about your dice pools for accuracy and defense equal to what you can see in ship combat. With this update, we compressed and improved the overall layout of crew combat hovers to prep for this data injection. The biggest improvement this week is if you have a lot of buffs or debuffs going, things should be much more readable.



We fixed two important craft bugs with this update -- when you launch a craft an enemy ship now properly interprets this as a hostile move. It is considered as hostile as firing a weapon and reduces the enemy ship's hostility, which will trigger a fight response if they are unable to flee. Second, we fixed a longstanding issue with the Talent "Hangar Triage" which was failing to take Repair Skill into account properly and always only repairing at 10%.

[h2[And a Bit More[/h2]
Thanks to everyone in the community posting feedback, bugs and suggestions. We're constantly tracking and recording everything coming in. This week we hit on a few more smaller items that came through. We caught up on another set of places were Rep loss for Indies was being reported incorrectly -- the Black Market, stealing Fuel and with the Terrifying Extortion Talent. Thanks to everyone dutifully reporting this issue.

We also fixed a bug with Call of the Strong's Russ Axeil where he could end up with 2 Traits that gave a second recruiting option, and based on the order you discovered them you'd only be able to recruit one or the other in the end. This is fixed for all future iterations of Russ.

- Trading $5,000 credits in violation of Trade Ban or Trade War or into a Trade Alliance increases the Conflict Score of supported faction
- Improved crew combat logs color and formatting to make them easier to read during and after battle
- Improved crew combat hover over characters
- Fixed issue with "Hangar Triage" Talent not correctly taking Repair Skill into account
- Launching craft correctly adjusts enemy ship's hostility
- Fixed issue stating that taking Fuel from a non-Pirate defeated indie ship would cause you Rep loss
- "Terrifying Extortion" Talent no longer reports Rep loss with indies, Black Market no longer reports Rep loss with indies
- Fixed issue with Russ Axeil having two recruit Traits for future captains

This week's update adds a new Talent, improves the placement rules for starting Contacts and then hits on 10 big feedback points from within the community this week. After last week's big update and sale, we'd like to welcome all new Captains to the void! We hope you're enjoying the pace of updates and new content. Let's dig into the details here --

Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2021 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

This week we heard a (funny?) story of the plight of Diplomat who was about to get spaced if they could not help their Captain find a way to afford a high value pardon. The story came with a great request for an improvement -- to cover Pardon's with a discount Talent. We were happy to oblige and save the poor diplomat's life! Or, at least the captain has promised not to space them until after the pardon is paid. Given the captain's temperament, I imagine the Diplomat is going to have to keep earning his seat -- but that is up to all their other great Talents.

The Diplomat's new rank 8 Talent, "Vindication Pact" helps cut down on the price of pardons by their Negotiate Skill, up to a maximum of 30%. Depending on how egregious your crimes have been, that can be a lot of money!


The rules for starting Contact placement on maps have always given preference to keeping your first Contacts spread across different zones. However, on some maps that led to some of the 3 starting Contacts who are designated to be local to your faction and starting quadrant having no place to live. Which meant these Contacts were getting the boot to nearby quadrants and other factions, which conflicted with the template you had established.

We've rewritten the rule to allow these 3 "local" Contacts to pile up. If absolutely needed, they will all pile onto the same zone even. However, the new game placement rules now keep the promise set by your template -- all "local Contacts" are just that.


This update is full of QOL improvements coming straight off the Steam boards. A huge thanks to everyone posting there with feedback, bugs and balance improvements.

Even though you were being charged, ship's with hull damage in dry dock were not getting their hull repaired. This is now resolved so your ship can be pristine and ready to launch.

A certain set of factors -- including a 10 Danger world and the custom team build with a rare Bodyguard and Sniper combo -- made the Yalto Thulun battlegroup unfairly OP. We've now made some balance changes to bring it back in line on lower difficulties.

There were 22 places in orbital operations where interactions with Indies might report Rep gain or loss incorrectly. Fixed!

The new flight helmet had some issues -- for some heads the hair could stick out the back and it was too picky about removing eyewear. you can now have either eyepatch while wearing the helmet.

Finally, we fixed a pile of reported typos, a few crashes from reports, clarified the Doctor "Medical Ward" Talent to remove an misleading phrase of "advanced medical facilities" (it just means ship's Medical Rating) and resolved a few places where mousewheel scrolling wasn't working as expected.

- Added new rank 8 Diplomat Talent "Vindication Pact" reduces price of Pardons up to 30% maximum
- All "local" starting Contacts are all placed in starting quadrant, even if there are 2 to a zone
- Improved balance of Yalto Thulun's battlegroup
- Fixed issue where hull on drydocked ships was not being repaired correctly
- Fixed issues with orbital operations logs when encountering Indies and Rep loss
- Fixed issue with hair sticking out the back of flight helmets
- Flight helmets now allow eyepatches
- Clarified "Medical Ward" Talent's description
- Fixed issues with mousewheel scrolling in all card games, recruit screen
- Fixed typos and reported crashes

Update #253 welcomes the Steam Lunar New Year sale with a 35% discount and a pile of new content and community-driven improvements and fixes. Welcome all new captains pouring into the void this weekend and thanks to everyone posting feedback and reviews. We've got a new hat, 3 new character faces, a corrected Peak Velocity Matrix 4 and more!

Our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is under development. Set in a different universe than Star Traders, we think much of what you all love about STF (a lore-rich world, many ways to play, strong independent spirit, lots of RPG depth) is shared within. Learn more about the Cyber Knights setting on its Steam page, or check out this video showing a ton of art and discussing the game design.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/


With Update #253 we've added a new community-requested hat for all characters. The flight helmet is perfect for all the Wing classes, your working ship crew or just anybody who wants the look! We've also added another 3 character face options including 2 beards and a scar. It is always exciting to see some new faces in the crew!

The PVM 4 came out just last week but had some of its stats wired up wrong. It's now fixed, for the glory of Rychart!


With Update #253, we've brought the details on a character's Talents up to full parity with what you can see in the status screen -- including the full description, effect and cooldown rules. If you're looking for details while picking crew, just click the >> button to slide out the detail panel as usual.

We're always pulling from the community for requests for fixes and improvements and with Update #253, we hit on some great ones! For those players having the issue where music would reset or stop after ignored combats, it's finally fixed! We've improved some of the missing or incorrect SFX and VFX for crew combat Talents for the Templar and the Jyeeta bosses as well as Interdictor flight plans. Finally, if you revealed a Contact Trait that changed their service offering, the screen used to do a poor job of updating on the fly -- now its smooth and updates immediately without having to exit.

Finally, all carriers -- including Pirates -- will not suicide their Shuttles against you if they lack proper fighting crew. You will no longer find an enemy shuttle packed with whimpering Pilots and E-Techs :D

- Added new flight helmet hat -- great for craft pilots, engineering crew, everyone
- Added 3 new character faces - scars, beards, beards!
- Corrected bonuses for Peak Velocity Matrix 4
- Improved display of Talents shown during Crew Combat selection to match Status > Talents
- Fixed issue with some Pirate carriers attempting to board without surviving fighting crew
- Fixed issue with revealing Contact Traits not always refreshing Contact service offerings
- Fixed inconsistencies with Talent SFX and VFX in a few spots in crew and ship combat (flight plans, Templar, jyeeta boss)
- Fixed issues with keybindings on Explorer screen
- Fixes music stopping and starting around ignored combats

Following up on the major milestone event GREAT HOUSES, Update #252 adds new content, improves existing systems, patches up some holes here and there and caters to some of the latest community requests. We're excited to keep cranking out updates as we move through the year, targeting both completing our roadmap and starting the next big thing: modding.

If you like the pace of updates and free new content, be leave a review and tell a friend. In the meantime --

Development on our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, proceeds apace. We’re currently working toward the private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. But you can view the latest updates on the CKF Steam page (make sure you’ve wishlisted and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

This month's community challenge is an open ended call to share the stories, builds and designs for your best and most legendary boarding combat crews. We're off to a roaring start with some absolute A-teams posted already, sporting amazing gear and even better looks. Join in and bring your #BoardingBosses to the party.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/335620/announcements/detail/3066358039684902746



Rychart is bringing the speed with the latest new ship component, the Peak Velocity Matrix 4 which grants a whopping +15 Move bonus, +1 Initiative and +6 Boarding. This faction-specific component is a great addition to any quick moving ship -- for fleeing, boarding or both. We've also tweaked the starport and economy requirements for PVM 3 to ensure they were up to snuff.

When you surrender to an enemy ship, their behavior is affected not only by any Trade Permits you hold with their faction, but also by any Trade Permits you hold with factions that are in a Trade Alliance with their faction. We've fixed an issue that was causing Military Officers and Bounty Hunters not to fully respect this rule set with Update #252.

For Pirates, once you reach Trade Permit 2 or higher (or have a Trade Permit with a Trade Alliance partner) they cease to loot your hold altogether, wary of angering their faction. For Military Officers, Bounty Hunters and Zealots they still demand to search your cargo in full. Each cargo is checked against your legal permits with their faction or now (correctly) with any Trade Permit of a Trade Alliance partner. While Pirates leave off at 2, you'll still need correct Permits for every good type if you want to pass through military inspection but with the Trade Alliance rules now properly respected, this just got easier.

While its an ugly moment when the crew rises up against their chartered captain, we still have come around to improving it once again. With Update #252, we've improved the details shared during mutiny -- being more specific about headcounts, Morale thresholds, amount of money offered and the results of a stand up fight (where some crew may die while others will survive by Death Save).

In addition, the mutineers have wised up a little bit. Their paltry demands for a lump sum are no longer so tiny and they may demand up to as much as 5% of your entire credits on hand, depending on just how bold they are feeling and how many are standing against you.

Finally, we've also improved the value of the anti-Mutiny Talents, boosting their basic Morale improvements. Those Talents relying only on Skill -- such as Doctor or Quartermaster -- have upgraded to 20 + Skill Morale. Those Talents that outright kill one of the mutineers (no Death Save!) have upgraded to 40 + Skill Morale. In both cases, if a mutiny is threatening, these Talents are going to feel a lot more powerful as ways to stave it off and worth training.

For those captains picking up a lot of Intel through Talents, we've ensured that all event logs related to Intel gathering now clearly list the faction in their top line without a need to hover over the event. We've also flipped the default sort of all places where Intel appears so that it is sorted newest first. We are prepping to add filters to Intel and then Sell All which will give a quick and easy way to offload Intel by filter to Contacts for those master spies who are sitting on big stacks.

- Added new Rychart-only Peak Velocity Matrix 4, high Movement bonus, more Pilot, gains +Init
- Adjusted zone requirements for Peak Velocity Matrix 3
- Military Officers and Bounty Hunters now correctly respect Trade Permits across Trade Alliances
- Improved Mutiny options and results to be more clear about cost and deaths versus wounded (death save)
- Improved power of all anti-Mutiny Talents to heal Morale, now 20 + Skill base or 40 + Skill for killing a mutineer
- Mutineers wised up -- demand much higher prices for calming (up to 5% of total credits on hand)
- Improved event logs for Intel-generating Talents to always mention faction
- Changed default sorting of Intel lists, newest Intel Records are at the top
- Fixed issue with "Fuel Depot" card in Explorer not correctly saving fuel updates
- Fixed typos and reported crashes

(Original challenge description below, skip to it?)

You all delivered with the Captain's pride we would expect for your champions of crew combat. Screenshots and stories included a mysterious Hunna clone, a love story with a Cadar High Princess, the crew that unlocked Master Explorer with ease, and more!

Check out the discussion thread, if you haven't already, for all the fun, or search the #st_frontiers channel in our Discord for "#BoardingBosses". Thanks to everyone for all their submissions.

Shout-outs to:
Heyokah, for including a full video of his carrier combat crew clearing out an enemy ship with ease. You can find a clip of that here on our twitter: https://twitter.com/StarTradersGame/status/1368254395821985797

bogboy3, for creating a "bumper sticker" meme that's sure to become a classic:


Tomcat, for not only providing an excellent breakdown of his combat crew buildout, but showing us a crew with one of the most impressive collections of high-level gear we've seen.

Yowid, appropriately marking 500 hours in Star Traders with an impressive Zealot.

cyborgknight, for full squad stats & gear screenshots with backstory!

violetmistum, for a strong crew and dependable gameplan: "Assassin does smoke, Captain honor guards Healer, Healer buffs two frontline melee with Tactical Edge while Sniper builds up for that one shot kill." 💯

Well done everyone. As always, #BoardingBosses submissions are still welcome on an ongoing basis in the Steam forums or Discord.

Actually, we're skipping a month this month for community challenges. ElfWord, who's been helping run these, is recovering from COVID, thus the delayed wrap-up as well. It's a busy March so one less item on our plate will help us keep the updates coming, and in April we'll resume with a fresh opportunity to dig into some aspect of the game.


This month we want to do a more open-ended challenge, asking a simple question: who has a boss boarding crew? Whether you’ve min-maxed through 50 iterations to create the ultimate xeno-grinder, or are simply proud of a combat squad that has kept you alive by the skin of their teeth, we’re open to all kinds of bosses here.

Show and tell us about yours with screenshots and: stories, stats, let’s plays, interpretive dance videos, etc. You can share them here or in our Discord. At the end of the month, we’ll highlight several for an official Trese Brothers nod (and possibly some memery).


Some of the things we’re hoping to see:

• Stories about your best crew combat accomplishment, journey to building your crew, or in-universe accomplishments.
  
• Screenshots of fully-customized combat crew members, special story vignette fights, or (RIP) combat captain death screens.
  
• Explanations of (/names for) your favorite combat tactics, equipment loadouts, or crew-combat-focused gameplay strategies.
  
• Stats from your best post-combat boarding results, self-imposed challenges, or high-difficulty achievements.
  
• Your own creative edits / showcases / celebrations of your favorite combat crew.

We ask that no matter what form your submission takes, you include at least 1 screenshot of the crew in combat. If you post in the Discord, include “#BoardingBosses” so we can find everyone’s entries easily through search (the #st_frontiers channel can get pretty busy 😅).

Can’t wait to see ‘em Captains. All hands, to battle stations!

We've opened up a discussion on the general forum for all posts, questions and shares for this challenge!

No, not Cyber Knights… with 2020 behind us now, we thought it was worth looking back at allll the things that are new with Star Traders: Frontiers over the past year. We’ve more than doubled much of the content in the game since release, and after over 50 updates just last year, there might even be something you missed…

Veteran players have always been able to add to their replay experience by changing the procedurally-generated universe itself at the start of a new playthrough. Now we’ve released map seeds version 2, allowing you to create better-balanced, more unique, and larger universe maps.



See updates #240, CARTOGRAPHER, and update #241, Mapmaker Rising, for details on the features we’ve added for maps. Finally in the latest GREAT HOUSES we introduced a new default map to the game from the version 2 seed.

In 2020 we added three new story vignettes to the game, two new jobs, and brand new mission types!



CATALYST, update #232, added the Scientist job along with scientific intel to the game. Another classic sci-fi archetype, the Scientist in Star Traders: Frontiers adds to both exploration gameplay and rewards for encounters with the xeno.

The Blade Dancer job, from update 202, added an aggressive blades combatant, rich in Steel Song lore and unique talents, for your combat crews.

And just this month we’ve added the Saboteur. This new job brings new boarding combat abilities, opens up more long-range boarding options, and specializes in talents for wrecking the enemy ship and crew after a successful boarding.



Story updates are always exciting, and the extensive work they take to complete pays off with some of the most unique experiences Star Traders: Frontiers has to offer. In 2020 we added three:

• Spirit of Cadonya - a hunt for a ship of legend, diving deep into the lore of the Exodus.
  
• The Clan Skyline Trade Accord - a new galactic event that creates one of the largest trade alliances in the game, opens up new advanced craft, and shakes up contacts in the political simulator.
  
• Avengent Lost - the capstone storyline for the Jyeeta Brood Era, this brings all new allies and enemies, new unique contact types, story-specific gear, and... Templars!

And most recently, we’ve expanded the mission types available! Across multiple updates, we’ve been expanding the mission system; contacts can now offer missions based on rumors, like salvage opportunities. We’ve also started experimenting with “self-directed” missions... Contacts can now offer you a mission for gathering intel; it will be of a specific type or related to a specific faction, but where and how you gather it is up to you.

Both of these new mission capabilities increase your ability to play the way you want to play while still aiding your faction and contact’s goals… and earning you a nice payday. We’ll continue to expand these capabilities over the year.


It’s a change that would sound small to anyone new to Star Traders, but long-time players will tell you is one of the most significant changes we’ve made to the game since launch. In update #225, a limited number of crew members gained the ability to equip the valuable specialist gear that was previously restricted to your ship’s officers.

This has opened up the possibilities for your crew builds quite a bit, no longer requiring the devotion of so many officers to your boarding party / crew combat A-teams. As the number of crew who can equip this gear is based on your Captain’s level, it also provides another nice reward for keeping your Captain (and their career) alive and growing.


We are constantly listening and responding to the feedback you all provide -- in the Steam forums, in our Discord, on Reddit, and on social media. Thanks to you, we have made countless improvements to the UI and descriptions, fixed dozens of rare but squish-worthy bugs, and been able to prioritize the gameplay improvements that matter most to you. Just to name a few of the big ones:

• Added a game option setting for faster crew combat
  
• Added option to review a recruit before hiring
  
• Ship component shopping (everything is cleanly grouped by categories, better filters, ability to preview a ship hull’s stats and components before buying)
  
• Drydock ship transfers
  
• Entirely-keyboard-controlled combat.
  
• Pay contacts to learn far-flung Economic and Recruit Rumors
  
• Rumors you’ve paid to learn about are now extended if they were about to expire
  
• Mission planning features added to the map & better map integration with the mission offer screen

In a game where replayability is one of its greatest strengths, variety is essential to making that sustainable. So wherever possible, we’ve added more:

• +41 talents
  
• +39 new crew weapons/armor/gear
  
• +17 new cards for card games
  
• +18 new faces and over 900 new outfit combos (not even counting gloves, which can now be set separately)
  
• +10 new ships and 47 new ship components
  
• New enemy AI and leveling options, increasing the variety of challenges as you level up (and giving you the option of conscripting better enemy crew members)

A rework of ship engines and the addition of several new bridge components are two big changes that have helped us ensure that ships of all masses, from tiny scouts to massive carriers, provide balanced gameplay while continuing to feel different from each other.



And we know how much many of you value customization options to ensure your Captain and crew members look the way your story about them feels. We closed out 2020 with a massive push to expand customization options, and started the year by crossing off two big content expansion milestones from our roadmap with crew outfits and crew faces.

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our cyberpunk heist RPG, is going into its private alpha and aiming for Early Access by the end of the year. But even as work on that next game intensifies, Star Traders: Frontiers will continue to get new and significant content added.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

This year will be another big year of updates. You’ve seen us tease some of these here (further mission capabilities) and in our dev streams (even more map capabilities in a v3 expansion). We still have some big story milestones left on the roadmap that will see all new story quadrants and Eras to be added to the game. Thanks to your continued enjoyment and support of the game, we’re as enthusiastic as ever about continuing to expand it.

Hope your year is off to a great start! Be sure to leave / update your review if you’d like to join us in celebrating all these additions to the game, and help us spread the word!